Blast Off & Cheeky Monkey

If you were a certain age during the nineties and noughties, if you loved indie music above all other and if you wanted to jump manically around a slightly sticky dancefloor to Song 2, then chances are you spent at least one great night at Blast Off.

The Civic's iconic club night remains the second biggest in the world's history – second only to Manumission in Ibiza.

Opening in 1996, Blast Off became a massive night out for revellers from the city and far beyond. By the time it closed its doors in 2014, the Civic had welcomed nearly one million punters – and probably almost as many adidas tracksuit tops.

The Saturday must-do, and its sister club night Cheeky Monkey which ran on Friday nights until 2012, proved a gigantic draw. The night took inspiration from big dance events so Blast Off employed the same sound system that Oasis used, computer controlled lights and a spaceship with a smoke machine inside it.

Revellers came from far and wide and if the paying customers loved it, then the indie legends who made the weekly playlist did too.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker was a very special guest DJ in 1999 – choosing to return to a venue where he'd first played with his band in 1994.

After Jarvis started the trend, others followed including The Charlatan's Tim Burgess, Suede frontman Brett Anderson, the Happy Monday's maraca shaker-in-chief, Bez and the Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt.

Also taking turns behind the decks have been singer songwriter Mark Morriss of the Bluetones, rock band Toploader, indie rockers The Twang, Birmingham-based Editors and Ned's Atomic Dustbin frontman Jonn Penney.

Away from the celebrity DJs, the regular music at Blast Off was a mixture of indie classics and new tunes. A poll in 2012 to find Blast Off's all-time top 20 tunes was topped by The Killer's anthemic Mr Brightside, beating The Libertine's Can't Stand Me Now into second place.

Of the 19 artists listed in the Top 20 (The Stone Roses made it twice), all but Rage Against the Machine had played gigs in person at the Civic or Wulfrun halls.